Crime Solicitors

The Environment Agency has prosecuted a Bradford firm for operating an illegal waste site.

Sam House Ltd ran a waste transfer station on Becks Road, Keighley in West Yorkshire. The Environment Agency prosecuted Sam House because it repeatedly stored too much waste on its Becks Road site – and the firm was also found to be running an illegal waste site at Rosse Street in Bradford.

Here, officers found 42 skips full of waste and 40 empty skips standing on bare ground, containing plastics, glass, uPVC frames, furniture, pallets, rubble and garden waste.

Investigating officers first discovered permit breaches in April 2013, when it was found that the director of Sam House, Mohammed Rashid, was storing overflowing skips on the roadside outside his Keighley premises.

Rashid was found to have four times the amount of waste allowed on the site, in excess of the 10-tonne limit allowed.

The Environment Agency served a legal notice on Sam House in October 2013, requiring Rashid to reduce the amount of waste on the site within a month.

The work was carried out, but an inspection in June 2014 revealed that the transfer station was once again being used to store excessive amounts of waste – approximately 75 tonnes were present, with some stored on unmade ground.

Further inspections revealed similar permit breaches – but despite being warned, Rashid continued to break environmental laws.

An inspection in May 2015, revealed around 100 tonnes of waste was being stored on the site.

The Environment Agency served two legal notices on Sam House in 2015, requiring the excess waste to be removed. However, both notices were ignored.

An enforcement notice was used to get the company remove the waste at the site in Rosse Street in Bradford. The firm complied, but analysis of waste transfer notes relating to the removal work revealed that the waste had been mis-described and the volumes under-recorded.

On 2 August at Bradford Magistrates’ Court, Rashid pleaded guilty to four environmental offences. Sam House was ordered to pay £27,420 – a total of £18,800 for the offences, legal costs of £8,500, plus a surcharge of £120.

In mitigation, Rashid said he had not researched waste management legislation before taking over the permit. The sites have now been cleared and the company is to be dissolved.

Team leader at the Environment Agency, Rita Reid, said after the hearing:

“Waste operations like this can have a detrimental impact on the environment and local communities – that’s why it is vital that waste operators stick to the rules and meet the conditions of their environmental permits.

“Sam House repeatedly broke the law, showing little regard for the environment. At the permitted site in Keighley, too much waste was stored –
and some of it on unmade ground, posing the risk of pollution; and the company was also operating a completely illegal waste site in Bradford.

“We hope this case demonstrates the importance of environmental compliance – anyone who breaks the rules will be pursued, and where repeated or significant breaches are found, we will prosecute.”

Duncan Lewis Criminal Solicitors

Duncan Lewis criminal solicitors can advise at any stage of an environmental offence – including at the start of an investigation by the Environment Agency or local authority, or before charges are brought.

There are Duncan Lewis offices nationwide and in most major cities – and Duncan Lewis advises companies and individuals or sole traders on environmental offences, including failing to comply with an enforcement notice, waste management offences, waste carrier offences, fly tipping, contaminating a watercourse, noise pollution, air pollution, misuse of permitted land and fisheries offences.

For expert legal advice on environmental offences, call Duncan Lewis criminal solicitors on 0333 772 0409.